Baseball

Consiglio and Thomas Earn Little East Conference Honors

May 15, 2012

NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – The Little East Conference announced the 2012 all-conference teams and major award winners Tuesday afternoon. Earning second team honors was first baseman Matt Consiglio (Southbury, Conn.) and relief pitcher Jeff Thomas (Redwood City, Calif.) as announced by the conference office.

Consiglio earned his first all-conference honor following a standout junior season in which he was amongst the conference leaders with a .471 average against Little East pitchers. On the year the Southbury, Connecticut native posted a .364 average to finish second on the team and in the top-15 in the conference. He recorded a conference best .506 on-base percentage and was tied for 10th in the league in runs batted in with 35.

One of the most difficult players to get out, Consiglio was walked a combined 29 times (2nd in the LEC), while on the base paths he totaled 14 stolen bases to finish tied for eighth overall. After starting the year at shortstop, Consiglio jumped over to the right side of the infield and picked-up the first baseman glove, where he played the remainder of the season.

Defensively he posted 249 putouts and 49 assists. He eventually went on to finish the year with a .952 fielding percentage and turned a team-best 20 double plays.

During the season, Consiglio recorded a career-best 14 game hit-streak and finished with two or more hits on 16 different occasions. During his hit-streak he drove in a combined 16 runs, while also recording six doubles and two home runs.

For Thomas, his first season with the Beacons was a near record setting one for the junior righty, as he tied the single-year mark for saves with five. In a total of 12 appearances this season, Thomas finished with a 0.49 earned run average in 18.1 innings of work. He totaled 13 strikeouts and held opponent batters to a .141 average.

He allowed just three extra base hits all season and allowed just one earned run against. In his first save of the season, Thomas needed just five pitches to close out the final inning to help the Beacons to their first win of the campaign, 9-7 over FDU-Florham. He would then earn back-to-back saves against conference opponents Western Connecticut State and Southern Maine.

Baseball closed out the 2012 season with an 18-22-1 record and a 6-8 mark in the conference. They advanced to their eighth straight Little East Conference tournament under head coach Brendan Eygabroat.